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1872–1943

THE GREAT SEDUCER

Cale Young Rice

Who looks too long from his window At the gray, wide, cold sea, Where breakers scour the beaches With fingers of sharp foam;

Who looks too long thro the gray pane At the mad, wild, bold sea, Shall sell his hearth to a stranger And turn his back on home.

Who looks too long from his window — Tho his wife waits by the fireside — At a ship's wings in the offing, At a gull's wings on air,

Shall latch his gate behind him, Tho his cattle call from the byre-side, And kiss his wife — and leave her — And wander everywhere.

Who looks too long in the twilight, Or the dawn-light, or the noon-light, Who sees an anchor lifted And hungers past content,

Shall pack his chest for the world's end, For alien sun — or moonlight, And follow the wind, sateless, To Disillusionment!

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THE GREAT SEDUCER · Cale Young Rice · Poetry Cove